Description

We are Jules and Hayley - 2 Brits living in Belgium with my 15 year old son. I have lived here for 19 years and Hayley for the last 5. We want to live a more sustainable life here in the small town of Kinrooi in Belgian Limburg. We are currently busy with an eco renovation on our house using hemp, loam and straw bales.

We keep chickens and have a go at growing our own fruit & veg - when we have time off from the renovation. Every year we try to expand the area of our garden which is available for growing - this involves doing battle with well established brambles and bind-weed and doing it without the use of pesticides... although Hayley hasn't completely ruled out investing in a flamethrower.

Type of help

GardeningBuildingGeneral MaintenanceHelp with Eco project

Help

We live in a house that was a self build in the 1950s - with all the quirks, odd building material choices and lack of right angles that go along with it. We needed to do something about the house and its complete lack of insulation and settled on insulating the roof and external walls with hempcrete and adding a wood frame extension with straw bale walls. So far we've insulated the roof, completed the upstairs rooms and have filled in the walls of the woodframe with straw. We need to finish the insulation to be able to plaster both the hemp and straw, protecting it from the weather. We're trying to reuse and recycle as much material as we can and chose an eco renovation because that was something that mattered to us. We've learned a lot about the techniques we're using and would be happy to share this knowledge with you if you have an interest, or to learn from you if this is something you've done before.

Depending on your skills and interests and where we are with the renovation there are many things that you may be able to help us with from mixing hempcrete, brickwork, gardening or the therapeutic exercise that is flinging bricks onto mountains of rubble that are going to be recycled into hardcore and the like. Maybe you even have ideas on a better way for us to recycle old joists into bookshelves?

In the coming years, we hope to expand our organic garden plot, to become more self-sufficient. We have a lot of garden which always needs attention and maintenance. If this is your passion, or just something you enjoy doing, we've got plenty to keep you busy.

Belgians are said to be born with a brick in their stomach - the desire to build their own homes - and self building and renovation is really common here although the neighbours are confused by our description of our eco renovation plans, especially when we get on to talking about hempcrete and straw bales! Where our neighbours usually have family available locally to help out with building projects, we don't. Some extra pairs of hands would be very welcome.

Languages spoken

English, Dutch....and a little French (which we would like to improve)

Accommodation

As you can see from our profile details, we are living in the house that we are renovating, with some of the dust and chaos that involves.

We liked the look of your profile and wondered if you might consider visiting us at short notice.
We are doing a renovation and expanding our garden, which we would appreciate some help with, but would also enjoy the opportunity to support you in exploring our region of Belgium (Flanders).

We've just broken through into our new straw-balebuilding and the next step is to turn our front room into our new kitchen. Normally this is where our WorkAwayer guests stay, so we're looking for volunteers who don't mind camping in our garden (we can provide a tent).

If you're one of the WorkAwayers travelling with a campervan we can provide you with a good camping spot next to the house with access to the kitchen and bathroom/shower in the house. In case of bad weather, we'll make sure you have somewhere dry and comfortable to sleep.

We are very happy for you to share our family meals, although you are welcome to bow out of this if you prefer your own cooking.

What else ...

We live in a small town in the North East of Belgium. Limburg is famous for its hospitality and cycling routes. There are local bus services, we have bikes that you could use or we'd be happy to drive you to the train stations if you want to go further afield - we're just a few kilometres from the Dutch border and 15 minutes from their nearest train station.
Although we seem to live in the middle of nowhere, we are actually within reach of many different European destinations. We're within 2 hours travel of Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels, the Ardennes, Antwerp, Luxemburg, Northern France and within an hours travel of Maastricht, Tongeren, Aachen and Eindhoven. If you have your sights on further travel, the high-speed rail network of all neighbouring countries can be accessed within an hour of here.
There are local facilities for watersports and, of course, many cafes with long menu lists of Belgian beers and a local chocolate maker.

We don't have many specific requirements other than asking people not to smoke in the house and to be considerate of our home and neighbours.

We've been WorkAway Hosts 15 times now and Hayley worked as a residential volunteer with a housing charity in London for a year, so we have experience from both sides of volunteering.

We were very happy to have Aziz and Marc stay with us. Their help with the garden and water storage was great.
Aziz is enthusiastic about permaculture and sustainability and it was good to exchange ideas and experiences.
They worked hard and independently. We would be happy to welcome them back.

(Excellent
)

08/02/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Nora)

Fabian and Nora where with us for around 3 weeks. They were very friendly, enthusiastic and worked on various tasks which we gave them. With their help we were able to clear out and get one of our sheds back into use. Thanks guys!

(Very good
)

04/01/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Fabian)

Fabian and Nora where with us for around 3 weeks. They were very friendly, enthusiastic and worked on various tasks which we gave them. With their help we were able to clear out and get one of our sheds back into use. Thanks guys!

(Very good
)

28/11/2018

Left by Workawayer (Fabian) for host

Nora and i worked 3 Weeks for Jules and Hayley. It was our first Workaway experience and we did enjoy every second of it. Jules, Hayley and Tristan ar great people. We had a lot of nice conversations, good beer, hard work and great movienights.
We learnd something about eco house building and gardening.

We would come back any time!

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

20/08/2018

Left by Workawayer (Michael) for host

I stayed with Jules and Hayley for nearly two weeks, being my first workaway experience I didn't quite know what to expect. Both of them are extremely kind and are great to talk to, the atmosphere is relaxed and you get to plan how you work the 25 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Belgium with them and took pleasure in taking back… read more control of their garden.
I wish you guys the best of luck in getting the extension done asap, and thank you again for everything that you did for me during my stay!

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

15/08/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Michael)

Michael spent 2 weeks with us this summer. He left our garden looking great, having worked hard and independently. He was a friendly and helpful house guest and is welcome to return any time. Thanks for all your help, Michael

3 weeks here in July were interesting, opened my eyes to the Low countries that I hadn't visited before. Good hosts food and weather. Simple work clearing garden weeds, Regular offers to be taken to the train station(and picked up again) and being taken out with them meant I had good insight of the locality. Good luck with your building my you… read more soon be living in it as you want.

(Very good
)

29/08/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Stéphanie)

Stéphanie was a welcome guest in our home. She demonstrated a good work ethic during the week she was here and we were sorry to see her leave.
Thank you for not getting too frustrated with my bad memory Stéphanie.
Bon voyages..

(Excellent
)

30/06/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Darryl )

Darryl spent 2 weeks as a guest in our home and we were sad to see him go.
He worked really hard on whatever task he was given and is very capable and independent. He was a good house guests and fit in really quickly.
Highly recommended and welcome back any time.

(Excellent
)

24/05/2017

Left by Workawayer (Ella) for host

I had a nice stay at Jules & Hayley's place for 2 weeks helping them in the garden and in the construction of the extension of their house. They are really friendly, kind, relaxed, interesting people, and have a lot to tell you about eco construction and natural materials, gardening and other alternative and social projects. They really made me… read more comfortable, willing to offer me the opportunity to try things that interested me (we made some mozzarella and bread for instance, went to a nice exhibition, always asked what I wanted to work at..). I learned a lot thanks to them and their patience to explain and share. I had to work alone a couple of times, so it's good to be able to be on your own, but I much more enjoyed to work with Hayley in her beautiful garden or with Jules in the house construction.
Thank you very much to you both, and good luck with the next steps of your house !

As my first time using Workaway I couldn't ask for a better experience. Jules and the family are fun and friendly and will definitely make you feel comfortable and they will help wherever they can. Hayley is an excellent cook and Jules will tell you everything you need to know about Belgium beer. I would be more than happy to return.

Hayden spent 3 weeks with us, helping mostly with removing and maintaining the trees at the back of our land but was also happy to lend a hand with other tasks. He is knowledgeable, with a great work ethic and taught us a lot during his stay.
Hayden is social, good company and joined in with family activities - we would welcome him back into our… read more home any time.
Thanks for your hard work Hayden!

(Excellent
)

10/08/2016

Left by Workawayer (Evelyne) for host

Hailey and Jules have been truly amazing hosts... Very thoughtfull and aware of the reality of travelling, they always made sure we were comfortable and at ease. We have spent some very pleasant evenings with them discussing around a couple of good german beers.

Thank you again Hailey and Jules for tour hospitality, and good luck with all of… read more your projects!

Eve and Max

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

28/06/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Sascha & Marina)

Sascha and Marina spent a month with us, helping with all kinds of tasks from land clearing to straw-bale insulation work. They are reliable, pro-active and work very well as a team.
We found them to be exceptionally hard working, considerate house guests and very good company. They were happy to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for wild… read more plants and foraging and we understand a lot more about our garden than we did before.
We would recommend them to any hosts and would happily welcome them back.

(Excellent
)

15/04/2016

Left by Workawayer (Hadriana) for host

I can't really describe this amazing experience, but i can give it to you some ideas :
I stayed during nearly one month with this lovely family, and we split our time between gardening, talking, cleaning, and fun.The work was sometimes challenging but with hosts like that everything seems to go faster and be more pleasant.
Also they took very… read more seriously to bridge cultural gaps ;) and of course improve my English.
I would definitely come back and bring them some cheese and wine. :D

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

12/04/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Hadriana)

Hadriana spent almost a month with us, helping us to transform some overgrown land into a new vegetable garden. She works hard, doesn't need supervision and is happy to take on any challenge.
We were very comfortable sharing our home with a considerate and social house-guest, who participated in family meals and activities. She might even have… read more helped us improved our French skills...un peu ;)
We would welcome her back, any time.

(Excellent
)

03/12/2015

Left by Workawayer (Adrián) for host

I spent the last two weeks of november helping Jules and Heyley renovating their beautiful house and I must say it was a great experience for me. The atmosphere in their house is very relaxed and homie all the time, they are a very kind and welcoming family and you can learn a lot about music, ecology (and beer) from them. The job is very… read more interesting if you are into ecobuilding and working with natural materials and most days not phisically demanding at all, and normally you work with Jules or Hayley so you will not feel bored because they have very interesting things to tell and share. Thank you for all your kindness and hope to see your house finished some day!

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

30/10/2015

Left by Workawayer (Aurelia & Tobias) for host

Thanks to Jules, Hayley and Tristan I had a lovely stay in Belgium for nearly a month. All of them are very kind and I learned a lot during my stay there.
Also, the work (nearly) turns out to be a fun activity, because I never had to work alone, but with one of them, which makes it a lot easier.
All in all, I am just able to say that I'm… read more definitly going back to visit them when the new guest room is finished! :D

You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.

(Excellent
)

26/10/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Aurelia & Tobias)

Tobias visited us on his own and was with us for 3 weeks.
We found him very friendly, enthusiastic and hard working - whether we were clearing the overgrown garden or building straw-bale walls. He was keen to learn new things and not afraid to get dirty.
A considerate house guests, who made delicious schnitzel :)
We'd be happy to welcome him… read more back or recommend him to others.